Short Story | Rim of the World

By Eddlynn Jennifer Mangaoang

Please do not repost or copy to another site. Thank you. Enjoy reading.

    She decided to do this partly because the suffocation inside the house she once considered home was slowly choking her spirit, and, well, to flee from him.

    Heidi and Terrence had been together for ten years now. They were high school sweethearts, later on, husband and wife. Who would have thought... yeah, who would've thought; indeed. 

    She didn't wake up next to a cold bed space in a three-foot-high queen bed because Heidi's husband woke up a little bit early, although that seemed to be happening quite frequently if she said so herself. No. Almost two years in their marriage and the vinegar turned more pungent four months ago. It quickly escalated into hurling of bitter and hurtful words, a slap in the face, and a cold shoulder. Their Cold War was colder than the Soviets and the United States had been; at least both countries actually tossed knives and bullets at each other in different locations and even swept nightmarish consequences amongst innocents, not that Heidi wanted that. She's thankful there would be no innocent after this.

    After their initial fight where their bottled emotions got the best of them, Heidi and Terrence remained in a ceasefire with Terrence in the guest room while she sleeps in the master's bedroom. She paid for the damned bed, thank you. Just like Taylor Swift said, I never heard silence quite this loud; it came to a point wherein they're both in the kitchen one day and he never bothered glancing at her nor talk with her. She endured ten minutes of eating feebly at the dining table with Terrence going about the kitchen cutting tomatoes and white onion for his grilled eggplant. She became envious of how the knife chopped the vegetables effortlessly; she knew a sharp knife like that wouldn't be able to slash through whatever thick wall he put around himself... she put around herself.

    Heidi spun her steering wheel softly to the right and the car smoothly turned the curve that hugged the mountain wall of the dirt road she's taking toward Lake Arrowhead. The sea of warm colors of yellow and orange, pink and red, reminded Heidi of the sunset she and Terrence had the luck of seeing during their honeymoon in Siargao Island in the Philippines. They were lying on the white beach and below them are fine and soft sands. They were canopied with tall coconut palm trees and their view. What a stunning view! After dipping and swimming in the cool, white-blue water of the relatively calm sea all afternoon, the color of fall burst across the sky while the sun gradually climbed down into the horizon for its sleep. It was one of the most beautiful, picturesque views she'd ever seen, and she saw it with the man she loved.

    The steep climb and zigzag pattern had Heidi drive in a relatively thirty to forty miles an hour along CA-18, the Rim of the World Highway, as it was called. This road, long and twisting like a serpent in between tall rocks in a foggy, wet day, was now her escape route.

    A lighthearted song enveloped her rather monotonous journey. Heidi connected her phone to her 2015 Toyota 4Runner using an AUX cable fearing that turning on the Bluetooth might make it easier for anyone to locate her, and she didn't want that at the moment. Moira's We & Us mocked her in her lonely hour, but the song reminded her that once she also thought that she and Terrence were the same as the song's protagonists.

    Rainbow notes up on the wall

Dancing children under rainfalls

Perfect sunset set to ten

Then we begin again

    Heidi turned to another curve on the road and saw more fall foliage of aspen trees and Fremont cottonwood stood guards like a sea of soldiers in varying height on the side of the mountains, yet the cool wind coming through her halfway down window didn't change the warmth the noon sun rained on her through the windshield. She had to park her car in the Rim of the World viewpoint area just a few off-the-road Observation decks where she could be amazed by the mountains that clashed and intertwined with each other like a clasped hands, fingers between fingers. The knuckles creating a range of ten mountains.

    There's a ribbon in the sky

Painting rivers on the moonlight

Moving pictures say the word

Of a story that begins

    To her right, she saw a family of chipmunks foraging for lunch. Two little ones were clucking at each other while fighting for the single pine nut they found amongst tall blade of grasses. They scampered away after a boy around eight shot right past his parents toward the small creatures. She couldn't clearly hear what was being said, but she saw the boy's father's hand gripped him on his left upper arm while her mother scolded him for making them worry. She looked at the child a little bit more before pulling out and into the road again. 

    I'll hold your hand and wipe your tears

We'll laugh until we run out of years

    Higher in elevation, Heidi noticed a cloud shaped like a sombrero in the clear blue sky and it once again brought her back to their first trip in Mexico City and they went to a birthday party of Terrence's friend, Joaquin's, cousin. They were invited as an extension of Joaquin, but they danced to the Mariachi band's uplifting and fun music, had a laugh at one of the performances the birthday celebrant and his friends readied for their visitors, and dressed up - Terrence as a Don in a rainbow-colored poncho and flesh-colored sombrero with stripes of the primary colors around the rim and Heidi as a Doña in a modern version of huipil and a traditional skirt. The huipil was white with a neckline decorated with embroidered pink flowers and the short-sleeve hemline with pink embroidery as well. The skirt was peach pink in color and was flowy and run all the way to her ankles like a maxi skirt. It was beautiful. 

    'Cause no matter if our blue skies turn to gray

There's a ray of sun that's bound to light our way

And although the roads are rough

I'll get through it just because

    She reached for the sandwich she made for this trip earlier this morning. While the man left her for work without saying goodbye, a normal occurrence that started three months ago, Heidi took six slices of wheat bread from the fridge and put two in the toaster. The boiling water abruptly needed her attention; she turned off the stove and lifted the teapot, pouring its content into a thermos she was planning to bring. The leftover water found its way into a mug with a pink cursive Wife, Mother, and Woman in it. A twinge of pain struck her heart and she almost burned herself with the hot water. She'll never become a mom. She bit her lip and, as she turned around, her husband's own mug in the sink caught her eyes, and she couldn't stop the tears from pouring out.

    She left the mug on the island counter and slowly sat down on the floor like a burning candle shedding its skin. She sobbed. She howled. She bawled. She scratched her upper arms' skin while hugging herself. She tugged at her bird nest hair. Heidi found herself empty; drained and in pain like a deer shot in the leg, alive yet left to bleed to death.

    The toaster dinged, and she got herself to stand up. Mechanically, Heidi prepared her breakfast- a warm toasted bread with runny eggs and mayonnaise as stuffing and hot milk. Then she put two lettuce leaves, a tuna spread she made, and sliced tomatoes on another pair of sliced bread. The third one contained fresh spinach leaves, white onion rings, and chicken nuggets. She was now eating the last sandwich while she drove through the winding road.

    I have my you

You have your me

No matter what may come

We'll have our we and us

    She only took two hand-carry luggage and a red JanSport backpack which held most of her gadgets used for blogging. She once blogged about Lake Arrowhead on her personal website, writing about this special place that welcomed her every time she needed alone time and isolation. Now, it would become her cradle again, and maybe once he found that she's gone... well, she could only hope. Hah.